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Prominent figures, including actor George Clooney and Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), are calling for President Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming presidential race, advocating for a new Democratic nominee. These calls for change come as Biden concludes a three-day NATO summit, following what many perceived as a lackluster performance in his debate against former President Donald Trump in their first presidential debate.

Biden will host a post-NATO summit press conference Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Yahoo Finance senior columnist Rick Newman explains why this press conference will serve as a crucial test for Biden, examining the potential implications of Biden’s performance on voter perception and party support.

Read more about the calls for Biden to step aside from the 2024 presidential race:
Biden-Trump debate sparks Democratic party concerns
Top concerns around a last-minute Biden exit from election
Biden’s 2024 hopes ‘on collision course’ with Democrats’ fears
2024 election may be a ‘bloodbath’ for Dems if Biden runs

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This post was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

Turning now to President Biden, facing a key test as he set to close out the NATO summit with a press conference at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time today.

This coming as he just lost support from actor George Clooney, the actor writing in an op ed for The New York Times quote, We are not going to win in November with this president calling on top Democrats to ask Biden to voluntarily step aside.

We also had the Senator Peter Welch, also calling for President Biden to step aside in the race, wrote an op ed for The Washington Post.

This is significant because it’s the first Democratic senator coming out calling for President Biden to step aside in the race.

So where do we go from here?

We want to bring in our very own Rick Newman and Rick.

It’s another day and more pressure, obviously, continuing out to mount here on President Biden to step aside in the race.

Senility watch continues, I guess, is the way I would put it.

Regrettably, So Biden has this press conference today at 5:30 p.m.

This is going to be at the end of the three day NATO summit in Washington DC.

This is the type of event that in North all times most people wouldn’t pay any attention to.

The You know, the NATO member nations did accomplish a few important things at this conference.

For one thing, they said, Ukraine will become a member of NATO at some point.

We don’t know when, but that is a strong statement of support for Ukraine and its war against Russia.

But that’s not what people are going to be watching for.

Obviously, when Biden takes does his press conference at 530.

I mean, the pressure is incredible, given that we’re just a few months before the election here.

So Biden has to prove he has total recall of all the names of the people he talked with this week.

He’s not going to mix up any facts.

He has to show that he can keep his train of thought and he is going to get hammered by the press because, I mean, this is this is now the cognitive test.

I mean, Biden hasn’t done the sort of cognitive test Trump claims to have done, which I don’t think Trump actually did.

But he is now going to face a cognitive test every time he goes on live TV.

So we will see how he does today.

And I guess if Biden has another slip up like he did during the June 27th debate, um, I mean, that could be the thing that finally brings his campaign to an end and gets us to a replacement candidate.

And if he, uh, if he does, really?

Well, um, I’m I’m not sure that puts any doubts to rest.

So, um, a very awkward position for Biden to be in.

I’m curious about the strategy from the side of Democrats here.

I just want to know in a couple of years when Democrats are chatting at the Thanksgiving table about this moment in time, are they going to look at?

This is a moment that the Democratic strategy to not fully support Biden was one that lost the election and gave it over to Trump, or is something that was an effective move to save the Democratic Party this election cycle.

I mean, I love the question, Mattie, you’re sort of trying to step out of the moment and say, What the heck is actually going on here?

I think it depends on the outcome.

If Biden stays in this race and then loses to Trump, he is going to be a sort of a Democratic villain for a long time.

Um, because it’s clear that a lot of Democrats want to see a younger candidate.

And, by the way, there are some very promising younger Democrats.

I mean, there are some governors who are very popular in their home states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, For example, Um, there are people in Biden’s Cabinet who are very capable and and in some sense Biden just won’t get out of the way, uh, and let a younger generation step up.

So if he stays in the race and he loses, um, then Biden’s a villain.

If Biden does step aside, then it depends on whether his replacement wins or loses.

So if he steps aside and and the next Democrat who steps in defeats Donald Trump, it’ll it’ll look like while Biden.

It took some convincing, but he he manned up and he did the right thing.

And then if that person loses, it’ll be like, Oh my God, there’s no Democrat who can save this party, so it really depends.

I mean, we’re really at pivotal moments here on a historic basis during just the next few days and weeks.

Yeah, we got to run, Rick, but it really makes you wonder why we waited to have this conversation.

Now, thank you so much for joining us.

As always.

We appreciate it.

Introducing Investigations Management: Your Centralized Workspace for Threat Intelligence  Flashpoint.io

Russian recruits told: Fighting Ukraine is good for your health  The Times

China tells NATO not to create chaos in Asia and rejects label of ‘enabler’ of Russia’s Ukraine war  NBC4 WCMH-TV

China Tells NATO Not to Create Chaos in Asia and Rejects Label of ‘Enabler’ of Russia’s Ukraine War  Military.com

Not only does the Times denounce Trump as an individual, it places Trump and the Republican Party as one in the same ahead of the upcoming convention. “A once great political party now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic, a man whose values, temperament, ideas and language are directly opposed to so much of what has made this country great,” they wrote.

Nearly two weeks ago, the board also wrote that President Joe Biden should step aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee after his startling debate performance, writing that leaving the presidential race would be the “greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform.” Their reasoning for calling on Biden to leave hinged on the same beliefs as the editorial published Thursday: Trump cannot and should not be president, in their eyes.

“The burden rests on the Democratic Party to put the interests of the nation above the ambitions of a single man,” the editorial said. They doubled down on Monday, calling on elected Democrats to “speak forcefully to the president and the public about the need for a new candidate.”

“President Biden clearly understands the stakes. But he seems to have lost track of his own role in this national drama,” the board wrote. “As the situation has become more dire, he has come to regard himself as indispensable. He does not seem to understand that he is now the problem — and that the best hope for Democrats to retain the White House is for him to step aside.”

On Thursday, they called directly on voters to use their power at the ballot box against Trump, regardless of who is ultimately on the ballot opposing him. “We urge voters to see the dangers of a second Trump term clearly and to reject it.”

“When someone fails so many foundational tests, you don’t give him the most important job in the world,” the board concludes.

Republican presidents and presidential candidates have used their leadership at critical moments to set a tone for society to live up to. Mr. Reagan faced down totalitarianism in the 1980s, appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court and worked with Democrats on bipartisan tax and immigration reforms. George H.W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act and decisively defended an ally, Kuwait, against Iraqi aggression. George W. Bush, for all his failures after Sept. 11, did not stoke hate against or demonize Muslims or Islam.

As a candidate during the 2008 race, Mr. McCain spoke out when his fellow conservatives spread lies about his opponent, Barack Obama. Mr. Romney was willing to sacrifice his standing and influence in the party he once represented as a presidential nominee, by boldly calling out Mr. Trump’s failings and voting for his removal from office.

These acts of leadership are what it means to put country first, to think beyond oneself.

Mr. Trump has demonstrated contempt for these American ideals. He admires autocrats, from Viktor Orban to Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong-un. He believes in the strongman model of power — a leader who makes things happen by demanding it, compelling agreement through force of will or personality. In reality, a strongman rules through fear and the unprincipled use of political might for self-serving ends, imposing poorly conceived policies that smother innovation, entrepreneurship, ideas and hope.

During his four years in office, Mr. Trump tried to govern the United States as a strongman would, issuing orders or making decrees on Twitter. He announced sudden changes in policy — on who can serve in the military, on trade policy, on how the United States deals with North Korea or Russia — without consulting experts on his staff about how these changes would affect America. Indeed, nowhere did he put his political or personal interests above the national interest more tragically than during the pandemic, when he faked his way through a crisis by touting conspiracy theories and pseudoscience while ignoring the advice of his own experts and resisting basic safety measures that would have saved lives.

He took a similar approach to America’s strategic relationships abroad. Mr. Trump lost the trust of America’s longstanding allies, especially in NATO, leaving Europe less secure and emboldening the far right and authoritarian leaders in Europe, Latin America and Asia. He pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, leaving that country, already a threat to the world, more dangerous, thanks to a revived program that has achieved near-weapons-grade uranium.

In a second term, his willingness to appease Mr. Putin would leave Ukraine’s future as a democratic and independent country in doubt. Mr. Trump implies that he could single-handedly end the catastrophic war in Gaza but has no real plan. He has suggested that in a second term he’d increase tariffs on Chinese goods to 60 percent or higher and that he would put a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods, moves that would raise prices for American consumers and reduce innovation by allowing U.S. industries to rely on protectionism instead.

The worst of the Trump administration’s policies were often blocked by Congress, by court challenges and by the objections of honorable public servants who stepped in to thwart his demands when they were irresponsible or did not follow the law. When Mr. Trump wanted an end to Obamacare, a single Republican senator, Mr. McCain, saved it, preserving health care for millions of Americans. Mr. Trump demanded that James Comey, his F.B.I. director, pledge loyalty to him and end an investigation into a political ally; Mr. Comey refused. Scientists and public health officials called out and corrected his misinformation about climate science and Covid. The Supreme Court sided against the Trump administration more times than any other president since at least Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A second Trump administration would be different. He intends to fill his administration with sycophants, those who have shown themselves willing to obey Mr. Trump’s demands or those who lack the strength to stand up to him. He wants to remove those who would be obstacles to his agenda, by enacting an order to make it easier to fire civil servants and replace them with those more loyal to him.

This means not only that Americans would lose the benefit of their expertise but also that America would be governed in a climate of fear, in which government employees must serve the interests of the president rather than the public. All cabinet secretaries follow a president’s lead, but Mr. Trump envisions a nation in which public service as Americans understand it would cease to exist — where individual civil servants and departments could no longer make independent decisions and where research by scientists and public health experts and investigations by the Justice Department and others in federal law enforcement would be more malleable to the demands of the White House.

Another term under Mr. Trump’s leadership would risk doing permanent damage to our government. As Mr. Comey, a longtime Republican, wrote in a 2019 guest essay for Times Opinion, “Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from.” Very few who serve under him can avoid this fate “because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites,” Mr. Comey wrote. “Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.” America will get nowhere with a strongman. It needs a strong leader.

Republican presidents and presidential candidates have used their leadership at critical moments to set a tone for society to live up to. Mr. Reagan faced down totalitarianism in the 1980s, appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court and worked with Democrats on bipartisan tax and immigration reforms. George H.W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act and decisively defended an ally, Kuwait, against Iraqi aggression. George W. Bush, for all his failures after Sept. 11, did not stoke hate against or demonize Muslims or Islam.

As a candidate during the 2008 race, Mr. McCain spoke out when his fellow conservatives spread lies about his opponent, Barack Obama. Mr. Romney was willing to sacrifice his standing and influence in the party he once represented as a presidential nominee, by boldly calling out Mr. Trump’s failings and voting for his removal from office.

These acts of leadership are what it means to put country first, to think beyond oneself.

Mr. Trump has demonstrated contempt for these American ideals. He admires autocrats, from Viktor Orban to Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong-un. He believes in the strongman model of power — a leader who makes things happen by demanding it, compelling agreement through force of will or personality. In reality, a strongman rules through fear and the unprincipled use of political might for self-serving ends, imposing poorly conceived policies that smother innovation, entrepreneurship, ideas and hope.

During his four years in office, Mr. Trump tried to govern the United States as a strongman would, issuing orders or making decrees on Twitter. He announced sudden changes in policy — on who can serve in the military, on trade policy, on how the United States deals with North Korea or Russia — without consulting experts on his staff about how these changes would affect America. Indeed, nowhere did he put his political or personal interests above the national interest more tragically than during the pandemic, when he faked his way through a crisis by touting conspiracy theories and pseudoscience while ignoring the advice of his own experts and resisting basic safety measures that would have saved lives.

He took a similar approach to America’s strategic relationships abroad. Mr. Trump lost the trust of America’s longstanding allies, especially in NATO, leaving Europe less secure and emboldening the far right and authoritarian leaders in Europe, Latin America and Asia. He pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, leaving that country, already a threat to the world, more dangerous, thanks to a revived program that has achieved near-weapons-grade uranium.

In a second term, his willingness to appease Mr. Putin would leave Ukraine’s future as a democratic and independent country in doubt. Mr. Trump implies that he could single-handedly end the catastrophic war in Gaza but has no real plan. He has suggested that in a second term he’d increase tariffs on Chinese goods to 60 percent or higher and that he would put a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods, moves that would raise prices for American consumers and reduce innovation by allowing U.S. industries to rely on protectionism instead.

The worst of the Trump administration’s policies were often blocked by Congress, by court challenges and by the objections of honorable public servants who stepped in to thwart his demands when they were irresponsible or did not follow the law. When Mr. Trump wanted an end to Obamacare, a single Republican senator, Mr. McCain, saved it, preserving health care for millions of Americans. Mr. Trump demanded that James Comey, his F.B.I. director, pledge loyalty to him and end an investigation into a political ally; Mr. Comey refused. Scientists and public health officials called out and corrected his misinformation about climate science and Covid. The Supreme Court sided against the Trump administration more times than any other president since at least Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A second Trump administration would be different. He intends to fill his administration with sycophants, those who have shown themselves willing to obey Mr. Trump’s demands or those who lack the strength to stand up to him. He wants to remove those who would be obstacles to his agenda, by enacting an order to make it easier to fire civil servants and replace them with those more loyal to him.

This means not only that Americans would lose the benefit of their expertise but also that America would be governed in a climate of fear, in which government employees must serve the interests of the president rather than the public. All cabinet secretaries follow a president’s lead, but Mr. Trump envisions a nation in which public service as Americans understand it would cease to exist — where individual civil servants and departments could no longer make independent decisions and where research by scientists and public health experts and investigations by the Justice Department and others in federal law enforcement would be more malleable to the demands of the White House.

Another term under Mr. Trump’s leadership would risk doing permanent damage to our government. As Mr. Comey, a longtime Republican, wrote in a 2019 guest essay for Times Opinion, “Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from.” Very few who serve under him can avoid this fate “because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites,” Mr. Comey wrote. “Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.” America will get nowhere with a strongman. It needs a strong leader.